'Stop the Bleed' program seeks to save lives

El Paso Fire Department Capt. Wayne Jones applies a tourniquet during a “Stop the Bleed” program training session Thursday at the Border Regional Advisory Council Region 1 office. The program seeks to empower bystanders to respond to bleeding. It was created in response to recent mass shootings.(Photo: Victor Calzada/El Paso Times)Buy Photo

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The "Stop the Bleed" campaign is a new program in El Paso teaching civilians how to stop bleeding in emergency situations.

The campaign hopes to empower bystanders to act as immediate responders.

The course is focused on teaching people how to apply direct pressure and when to use a tourniquet.

All it takes is two hours of training to learn lifesaving strategies to turn everyday people into heroes.

A new program in El Paso is teaching residents how to stop bleeding in emergencies such as shootings, terrorist attacks and even something as common as a traffic accident.

"Our concern is there are people dying from blood loss before medical personal can get to them," said Dr. Stephen Flaherty, trauma medical director at Del Sol Medical Center. "One of the things we are seeing in many of these mass shootings is before the scene is secure enough for medical providers to get in, people are bleeding. There are other uninjured people near them, but they don't have the knowledge to be able to help, so we want to get the word out to people so they can help with simple techniques that are readily available and easily teachable to the general public."

Flaherty is the first to train nonclinical professionals in El Paso through the nationwide "Stop the Bleed" program.

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Wanda Helgesen, executive director of the Border Regional Advisory Council, monitors the application of a tourniquet during a “Stop the Bleed” program training session Thursday.(Photo: Victor Calzada/El Paso Times)

The “Stop the Bleed” campaign seeks to empower bystanders to act as immediate responders.

"This course is focused on teaching people how to apply direct pressure, how and when to use a tourniquet, and how and when to pack a wound to stop bleeding," Flaherty said. "We want people to know that pulsatile, spurting bleeding from the extremity can be stopped with direct pressure or a tourniquet."

This campaign is the culmination of a yearlong collaboration among the National Security Council at the White House with partners such as the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, the American College of Surgeons, Hartford Consensus, the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Johnson & Johnson and the Harvard Kennedy School.

"One of my good friends, Norman McSwain, was one of the leaders in developing this course," Flaherty said. "He was the trauma director at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and he told us about the concern of people dying from preventable causes in these mass casualty incidents. He helped to develop this course to get it out to lay people who don't otherwise have the medical training to be able to help."

Flaherty and his team are working with local agencies such as members of the Border Regional Advisory Council.

"We want to train people who will potentially be at a site where something like this might happen," he said. "So we think law enforcement, security guards, schoolteachers and anybody who is associated with a school system should learn this."

Flaherty said when it comes to trauma, bleeding out is the most preventable cause of death — and it typically happens before patients even make it to the hospital.

"All it takes is five to 10 minutes for someone to bleed out," he said. "The injury we are most concerned about is on the extremities, on the arm or leg. A major injury to arm or leg, that person can die inside of 10 minutes quite easily. All it takes is two minutes for someone with the proper training to save a life."

He said the program is focused on the extremities and not torso injuries.

"The problem with torso bleeding is you really need a hospital to be able to take care of that type of injury," he said. "There is really nothing that can be done in the field, no matter if it's a small amount of bleeding or a large amount of bleeding."

The rise in multiple-casualty events around the United States has prompted the necessity of such training, experts say.

"When we looked at the large group of people we wanted to help, we have targeted our training to law enforcement, security officers and paramedics," said Wanda Helgesen, the executive director of the Border Regional Advisory Council. "We've also done some classes for the lay public. We've had individuals who just got their hand gun license and just want to be safe. Eventually we're going to get the classes out to the general public. Our goal is to teach over 1,000 people this year. We're at about 200 now."

“We want more people around that know how to stop the bleeding. It's all about saving lives with a little bit of education. If somebody bleeds to death from an extremity wound, that's a serious tragedy.”

The Border Regional Advisory Council, which is made up of El Paso, Hudspeth and Culberson counties in Texas and Caltron, Doña Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra and Otero counties in New Mexico, develops and implements a trauma system to reduce the number of trauma incidents, preventable deaths and the severity of trauma-related disability, as well as make sure that all Texas trauma victims receive the best care possible.

Sara Seagrove, a registered nurse and the EMS relations coordinator for Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare, said the program seeks to change the role of bystanders.

"The most important thing is training people who are out in the community who could be present if something major happens," she said. "It's not going to be EMS or the firefighters who are going to get to people who are injured first; it's going to be people who are at the event. We are trying to get out to those people who we can train to give them an understanding of how to save lives."

She said people don't realize the strength they have in themselves.

"Adrenaline is a big thing," she said. "When you see someone injured right there in front of you and you have a chance to save a life, your adrenaline will kick in and your fear of blood might go away. Sometimes patients are bleeding profusely and they only have a few minutes, so every second matters. Adrenaline helps people do things they wouldn't normally be able to do."

Sgt. Rudy Gallegos, who is with the El Paso Police Department SWAT team, said training the community is a great thing.

"I'm happy they're putting this type of training out to the community," he said. "We're going to need community effort if there is a mass casualty incident in El Paso. The more people who know about this the better it's going to be for everybody."

He said a prime example is the terrorist attack at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla., in June in which 49 people were killed and 53 others were wounded.

"There were some people inside the bathroom for an extended length of time who bled out," he said. "If someone was trained in this, they could have helped. The more people who know about first aid and tourniquet application, the better the community will be."

Gallegos stressed that when it comes to saving lives, it truly is a community effort.

"A lot of people say it's the job of EMS or the police's job, but in reality when it comes to mass casualties it's going to take everybody's help," he said. "The more people who are skilled in doing this, the more lives are going to be saved."

Flaherty said it is his hope to get as many people trained who could potentially save lives.

"It's a scary thing when you see somebody bleeding in front of you," he said. "A lot of people don't have the knowledge of what to do. This is about getting them the knowledge of when to know when bleeding is life threatening compared to when it's not and what they can do to stop it."

He said people who are event staff at major events in El Paso should be trained.

"It doesn't have to be an act of terrorism," he said. "It could be any type of injury that happens anywhere. We want more people around who know how to stop that bleeding. It's all about saving lives with a little bit of education. If somebody bleeds to death from an extremity wound, that's a serious tragedy."

Stop the bleed

What: The “Stop the Bleed” campaign seeks to empower bystanders to act as immediate responders by teaching them how to apply direct pressure and how and when to use a tourniquet or pack a wound to stop bleeding. The Border Regional Advisory Council is planning classes for the general public.